Current Affairs General US politics (ie, not POTUS related)

[Martin Alvito]

It is not only vile and repugnant to say this but has he even thought what it would do to the US economy?

I have been saying for years that if we gave high school students the most cursory education on economics, the GOP would be screwed.

It's not like their base is clamoring for their housekeeper and migrant farmer jobs back. The manufacturing jobs that went to Mexico aren't coming back no matter how many illegals they lock up. What will happen if they lock up all the illegal immigrants is inflation.

What they're advocating is nothing more or less than punishing a vulnerable population for the sins of others.

 

[LinekersLegs]

It takes a two-thirds majority to expel, so that's an empty threat. The GOP can censure with a mere majority. A censure resolution would probably be interpreted in his district as a badge of honor, in this political climate. The censure of Schiff cheapened that tool in much the same way that impeaching Clinton without a realistic pathway to conviction cheapened it. If not for media, the Republicans would have just condemned Clinton in a joint resolution and had done with it.

One suspicion is that he pulled the fire alarm (and Jeffries talked for an interminable length of time by House standards) to give members the opportunity to read the bill. If so, I would be inclined to tip my cap to him for ingenuity. I'm firmly in McCain's 'regular order' camp. Leadership on both sides of the aisle have been exploiting time pressure to twist rank-and-file arms for far too long.

A former high school principal electing to pull a fire alarm should speak volumes about how screwed up Congress has become. I can't even call it hypocrisy. It's 'these are the tools available' in much the same way that central defenders cheat on every set piece.

Sorry, I think it a really dumbass move, not least because it will take the focus off the dis function of the GOP house. Jefferies speech was giving the time although agree it shouldn’t have been needed (could have sworn GOP instituted a 72hour limit to read bills as one of their incoming pledges)

Thought you might like the legal view here

 

[Martin Alvito]

Sorry, I think it a really dumbass move, not least because it will take the focus off the dis function of the GOP house. Jefferies speech was giving the time although agree it shouldn’t have been needed (could have sworn GOP instituted a 72hour limit to read bills as one of their incoming pledges)

Thought you might like the legal view here

If it's what it takes to whip votes, then that's what it takes and screw the optics. If your argument is that it's not what is best for Biden, you're probably right.

However, when it's Bowman and Jeffries in a room, we should expect them to do what's best for them. Bowman can't lose that district by running to the right, but he can lose it by running to the center. Jeffries always wins politically if he gets the votes.

This is what happens when we let state governments gerrymander House districts, and watch polarized media. I hate the game, rather than the players. McConnell is good at what he does, which is use the rules of the Senate to bend it to his will. If the members would just get smart and put a stop to that nonsense, he would be a nobody in the chamber and the sort of senators who historically wielded influence would wield it.

 

[LinekersLegs]

If it's what it takes to whip votes, then that's what it takes and screw the optics. If your argument is that it's not what is best for Biden, you're probably right.

However, when it's Bowman and Jeffries in a room, we should expect them to do what's best for them. Bowman can't lose that district by running to the right, but he can lose it by running to the center. Jeffries always wins politically if he gets the votes.

This is what happens when we let state governments gerrymander House districts, and watch polarized media. I hate the game, rather than the players. McConnell is good at what he does, which is use the rules of the Senate to bend it to his will. If the members would just get smart and put a stop to that nonsense, he would be a nobody in the chamber and the sort of senators who historically wielded influence would wield it.

Don’t think there is any love lost between Jeffries and Bowman tbh


We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one - I can hate the tactics the players use as well as the game !

 

[LinekersLegs]

 

[Martin Alvito]

Don’t think there is any love lost between Jeffries and Bowman tbh


We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one - I can hate the tactics the players use as well as the game !

It's fair to hate the tactics. I just see them as a natural consequence of the rules of the game, and how they are interpreted or enforced. If you let basketball players get away with flopping, they do it. Same with attackers in football. Politics makes for strange bedfellows.

100% legit for you to see it differently than I do. Assigning blame is preference-based stuff, which is why it's so easy IMO to put it in the wrong place. I can't prove your perspective wrong. Human beings have a way of letting moral judgments trump structural arguments, and you would have to work hard to find someone more cynical than me without trawling through C-suites, Wall Street and all the other real morasses of humanity.

I prefer to strip the morality away, look at it as chess and respect good moves. If we want the game fixed, that requires fixing the rules. It's OK not to like that.

 

[LinekersLegs]

LOL

 

[LinekersLegs]

Edit presume this will be enough assurance

 

[Martin Alvito]

LOL

This is one of many reasons why most members of the House don't poison the well, and why the ones who do rarely stick around for long. It's possible to get away with a lot more in the Senate (as Tuberville proves), but even that has a way of limiting one's influence. I don't think he's as passionate about that issue as he pretends, and he's spending a ton of political capital in a way that I don't think improves his re-election prospects all that much.

One would think Boebert's close general election would have been a wake up call for Gaetz, but then again it's a very different district.

 

[LinekersLegs]

 

[Martin Alvito]

It's Congress, so I'm taking the lettuce. One virtue of the British parliamentary system is that if a majority wants it, regardless of whether it's a party majority with respect to internal politics or a majority of the MPs, it happens.

Madison would have tossed his cookies over me calling that a virtue, by the way.

 

[LinekersLegs]

It's Congress, so I'm taking the lettuce. One virtue of the British parliamentary system is that if a majority wants it, regardless of whether it's a party majority with respect to internal politics or a majority of the MPs, it happens.

Madison would have tossed his cookies over me calling that a virtue, by the way.

Dems won’t be keen to save him this time

Pelosi's message to Dems: Don't save McCarthy's speakership

She’s long had a frosty relationship with McCarthy, who once joked about hitting her in the head with her own gavel.

www.politico.com

While some Democrats have explored whether there’s some agreement to be had, others told Playbook they’re with Pelosi: Jeffries shouldn’t go make any deals with a Republican who almost single-handedly helped resurrect former president Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 riot, reneged on a bipartisan spending caps deal with the White House and is now trying to impeach President Joe Biden.

 

[LinekersLegs]

 

[Martin Alvito]

Dems won’t be keen to save him this time

Pelosi's message to Dems: Don't save McCarthy's speakership

She’s long had a frosty relationship with McCarthy, who once joked about hitting her in the head with her own gavel.

www.politico.com

While some Democrats have explored whether there’s some agreement to be had, others told Playbook they’re with Pelosi: Jeffries shouldn’t go make any deals with a Republican who almost single-handedly helped resurrect former president Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 riot, reneged on a bipartisan spending caps deal with the White House and is now trying to impeach President Joe Biden.

I think they'll calculate that their best move is to stand aside and let the Republicans soak up as much negative ink as possible. Internal House chaos helps the Democrats, provide that government continues to operate in the background. That's probably why Jeffries hung McCarthy out to dry in January, rather than cut a power-sharing deal that would have led to a functional chamber.

Absolute bull. I have walked from Cannon to the Capitol underground. You want to set off Capitol security, an apparent emergency in Cannon is a good way to do it. Odds are they start running through terrorism protocol, and if they don't the members with offices in Cannon will be spooked when their aides text them.

 

[LinekersLegs]

There are also alleged trips to Paris and a knockoff podium to stand in for the $20k one!